


ring of fire

by incandenza (khatchadourian)



Category: The World's End (2013)
Genre: Internalized Homophobia, Multi, gary/andy is background, i guess, oliver/andy is onesided (from olivers end :( )
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 05:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11844996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khatchadourian/pseuds/incandenza
Summary: and he knows in the pit of his stomach that it's wrong, but it doesn't change what he wants, who he wants, who's in his way.





	ring of fire

oliver can really swear he hates him some days. he knows it's a bit sacrilegious, a bit inappropriate to feel anything but admiration for their so-called fearless leader, but it's incredibly difficult when the one person _he_ wants admiration from only cares for gary fucking king. 

and the worst part is that he can't tell whether his assumptions are wrong or not. whether the furtive glances gary and andy throw to each other are implicative of anything deeper or if there's nothing more to it. whether what he wants is what they have, on the surface level, but he's just so envious the desire manifests in the form of something worse. 

and he knows in the pit of his stomach that it's wrong, but it doesn't change what he wants, who he wants, who's in his way. 

even if gary weren't an obstacle, he realizes, _this is newton haven_. but gary's a smaller easier thing to focus on. 

he watches a lot. not as much as peter, the designated bystander, and not as much as steven, the envious bastard, but he considers himself observant enough to pick little things up. gary's never nice to anyone and he _supposes_ if he has a soft spot for anyone it's reserved for andy, but someone you're that close to shouldn't be limited to just a _soft spot_ when he's always bending over backwards for you, loaning money and faking doctor's excuses and hiding drugs and being there for you when you're not even there for him. andy deserves better, he thinks. oliver doesn't necessarily consider himself better. maybe comparatively, though, just a bit. he just misses andy being around more, he tells himself, seeing them walk into andy's room together just after everyone else has left. 

they're just walking all together after school, oliver on his brick of a phone. and everyone's teasing and chiding, shouting that _o-man's on pussy patrol_ , and he's really not sure why anything he tries to do would be enough. he doesn't go after girls, he gets made fun of for not trying. he pretends to go after girls, gets made fun of for trying too hard. and there's really nothing he can do about it, no winning, because winning in his eyes is definitely unattainable because of who he is, or rather, who he isn't. and he looks at gary and andy, joined at the hip, and he thinks about how it's really unfair, because he met andy a year before gary even hung out with them, back in primary, and then he feels a pang of _something_ , maybe embarrassment, who knows, because resorting to first dibs thinking is absolutely childish. and maybe childishness is justified, but it's never appropriate, and it never works. not in his favor, anyways. 

and he's resentful in a way, he thinks, sipping on his first pint of the evening, because gary fucked his sister and because gary treats everyone like shit and takes everything for granted and because gary always gets what he wants, but he's mostly jealous, because gary always gets what he wants. he wants to drink, he drinks. he wants drugs, he takes them. he wants to sleep with sam, he sleeps with sam. he wants to be with andy, of course he gets to be with andy. there's no deliberation, no process, no pause between wanting and getting. it's superfluous and it kills oliver. 

but it's whatever, it really is. 

it could be worse, he thinks, not really feels. second pint in. he's too caught up in his own thoughts to enjoy it. 

they get to the famous cock. gary's not allowed in or to be served, which oliver's going to feel smug about for a good few minutes, before taking another look at the polaroid of gary hung up. the one where andy's right beside him. the beer goes bitter (well, more bitter) in his mouth as he wracks his mind, trying to figure out what andy sees in him. his mind comes up blank.

oliver's smart and polite and what most would consider to be a good, put together young man, he thinks, and andy is too, or _was_ , at least, before he became raucous and belligerent and excitable, before gary got his hands on him. now he doesn't wear his tie to school every day, now he doesn't even come to school every day, often just skipping, with gary, who is absolutely a bad influence. and maybe oliver is being a bit of a mother hen but he's known andy longer than gary has, maybe not better, but quantity over quality, really. 

pub 4. cross hands. the shots come to the table. everyone lifts up the tiny glass cups, everyone puts them to their mouths. oliver feels burning in the back of his throat, to match the feeling in his face, and it doesn't go away for the rest of his night. 

gary goes off to the bathroom by himself, _probably to do a line_ , oliver thinks with distaste. 

his suspicions are neither confirmed nor denied (but he'd like to think implied), when they get to the good companions and he goes to talk to the reverend. sure, oliver buys xanax off of him, but that's not the same. 

six is too much for him, it turns out. they walk out of the trusty servant with him, and boo teasingly as he coughs and spews onto the sidewalk, flips them off. when he makes eye contact with andy, who's in sync with, and generally _with_ gary, he can't take it anymore. he marches off. _fuck them_ , he's thinking. _fuck them_. but he feels hurt more than anything, really. 

and he gets home, and his mum asks how the last day went, and he says _fine_ , voice hoarse. and he lays down on the couch, decompressing, and an hour or two later sam gets home, bleary eyed. no, he's not going to, doesn't want to, think about it. too many people are being cheated by the same goth fucker. 

and things are the same for a bit after that, after their botched night of glory, but then university comes around they all head their separate ways (except for andy and fucking gary, of course, inseparable as always), keeping in contact here and there. holidays and such. when gary and andy are off getting fucked up, and he, steven, and peter are left to mingle, and bad stories about gary eventually get dredged up, and he bites his tongue, not wanting to be the one to admit to having had doubts about him from long ago. 

he's not the first to hear about the accident, when it happens, but he's the first to think that it really was fucking inevitable.

**Author's Note:**

> i genuinely have no clue where this came from oliver is like my least favorite character / the most fucking boring character imho and i don't even want to bother thinking about giving him more depth but this was an uh interesting concept i guess. it's 2 am. credz to karlimeaghan for the concept:  
> http://karlimeaghan.tumblr.com/post/164332487429/based-on-my-headcanon-that-oliver-is-in-love-with
> 
> this movie is going to be my ruin


End file.
